Holyrood Park
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-> Holyrood ParkHolyrood Park, or Queen's Park - a natural wilderness in the very heart of the modern city - is unquestionably one of Edinburgh's main assets, as locals (though relatively few tourists) readily appreciate. Packed into an area no more than five miles in diameter is an amazing variety of landscapes - hills, crags, moorland, marshes, glens, lochs and fields - representing something of a microcosm of Scotland's scenery. The park is a great place for outdoor activities, with toddlers, cyclists and rock-climbers all being catered for. A single tarred road, the Queen's Drive, circles the park. In a small stone-built gate lodge at the entrance to the park from Holyrood Road, the Holyrood Park Ranger Service has a small information point (Mon-Thurs 10am-4pm, Fri 10am-3.30pm) where you can pick up a map of suggested walks or find out about ranger-led walks which depart from the lodge at 2pm on Wednesdays. Note that some time in 2002 the ranger service will move to a brand-new Park HQ in the area behind the Palace of Holyroodhouse.
Two of the most rewarding walks begin opposite the southern gates of the palace: one, a pathway nicknamed the Radical Road, traverses the ridge immediately below the Salisbury Crags, one of the main features of the Edinburgh skyline, while you can also walk along the top of the basalt crags, from where there are excellent views of the Palace of Holyroodhouse and Holyrood Abbey.
From the palace gates, the best way to follow Queen's Drive is in a clockwise direction. Soon you arrive at St Margaret's Loch, a nineteenth-century artificial pond, above which stand the scanty ruins of St Anthony's Chapel, another fine vantage point. From here, the road's loop is one-way only for vehicular traffic, ascending to Dunsapie Loch, again an artificial stretch of water, which makes an excellent foil to the crag behind.
This is the usual starting point for the ascent of Arthur's Seat, a majestic extinct volcano rising 823ft above sea level. The Seat is Edinburgh's single most prominent landmark, resembling a huge crouched lion when seen from the west. The views from the top are all you'd expect, covering the entire city and much of the Firth of Forth; on a clear day, you can even see the southernmost mountains of the Highlands.
From Dunsapie Loch, Queen's Drive continues round beneath the summit to meet itself again at a roundabout near the southern point of the Salisbury Crags. At a second roundabout the second exit leads out of the park; the first exit takes you beneath Samson's Ribs, a group of basalt pillars strikingly reminiscent of the Hebridean island of Staffa, and onto Duddingston Loch, the only natural stretch of water in the park, now a bird sanctuary. Perched above it, just outside the park boundary, Duddingston Kirk dates back in part to the twelfth century and is the focus of one of the most unspoilt old villages within modern Edinburgh. In the village, the Sheep Heid Inn is a great spot to pull in for a drink or a bar meal, and you can also try your hand at the traditional skittle alley.
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